A number of endeavors are directed based on information provided collection of large and complex bodies of data, and for a number of these endeavors, data collection is complex and expensive. Because of the importance of the insights provided by the data in directing complex and costly endeavors, and because of the expense involved in collecting the data itself, it is important to process the data to yield an accurate representation conditions represented by the data. Processing of large bodies of data can be complex and expensive, as, for example, in the case of processing acoustic wave data to create images of subsurface features. In the case of the processing of seismic data, such as to create or analyze images for oil exploration, processing is divided among large numbers of processors, on the order of thousands. Such processing may take hours, and the use of such a large body of processors is expensive. It is important to balance the processing load as evenly as possible because if processors undergo excessive idle time, the processing time will increase. If some processors are idle, it is likely that other processors will be at their capacity, so naturally the whole assembly will not be processing as efficiently as it could be.